I watched Chris a few times.One of them at Eastbourne, when Sweden and New Zealand played a DC rubber after the 83 Wimbledon.

Lewis had just been the AELTC runner up and played FO finalist Wilander.Wilander won the match but you could see Lewis was spendt, still his courage, agression and movement kept him alive during 4 tough sets.

A good but not great player who took his chance to make it to the biggest event´s finals where he had no reason being.But he deserved it.

He also reached the Cincinnati final and Queen´s semis, always beaten by Mac.As he mentioned, he reached the Stuttgart finals, this time Lendl beat him.

He reminds me a bit of guys like Bagdhatis or Gonzalez, one timers who where perfectly fit at the right moment at the right spot.But Lewis talent never carried him better than 25 or 30 in the world.

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Whenever I walk in a London street, I am always so careful where I put my feet

Biggest thing Lewis had going for him was SPEED!!!!! Dude was fast and quick.....one of the nicer guys on tour back then. No big weapon really.

Super interview - it's cool how well on a run like that he remembers the scores and players!!!! Nice to read something about the "Duke" (ex teammate of mine and the greatest player ever from Nigeria!!!) and Mike Bauer!

I remember feeling cheated out of another potential classic final by Wimbledon organisers.. Connors had just beaten Mac in straight sets at Queens. then they made the bizarre decision of putting the defending champion on court 2 for his encounter with Kevin Curran who had a purple patch match.. and was back to normal when he played Lewis on the semis..1983 had all the makings of another classic final between Connors and Mac but a bizarre decision and Curran playing out of his skin led to a lacklustre final instead..

I watched Chris a few times.One of them at Eastbourne, when Sweden and New Zealand played a DC rubber after the 83 Wimbledon.

Lewis had just been the AELTC runner up and played FO finalist Wilander.Wilander won the match but you could see Lewis was spendt, still his courage, agression and movement kept him alive during 4 tough sets.

A good but not great player who took his chance to make it to the biggest event´s finals where he had no reason being.But he deserved it.

He also reached the Cincinnati final and Queen´s semis, always beaten by Mac.As he mentioned, he reached the Stuttgart finals, this time Lendl beat him.

He reminds me a bit of guys like Bagdhatis or Gonzalez, one timers who where perfectly fit at the right moment at the right spot.But Lewis talent never carried him better than 25 or 30 in the world.

Chris actually got to 19 in the world. Pretty good for a journeyman. Another great match was him beating Vilas on clay in 1978.

Chris actually got to 19 in the world. Pretty good for a journeyman. Another great match was him beating Vilas on clay in 1978.

I never said he was a journeyman, but he certainly knew a Wimbledon title would be oversized for his stature.Good guy, nevertheless.I enjoyed his run at Wimbledon, but he was very lucky didn´t play a big player there till Mc Enroe.

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Whenever I walk in a London street, I am always so careful where I put my feet

Imagine if, today, 75 per cent of the futures and challengers events were discontinued.
You would see an immediate drop in the number of players pursuing a pro career as there wouldn’t be enough early opportunities to support them.

I cannot tell you how many ambitious junior players in my time would have liked to chase a pro career, but weren’t able to as there just weren’t enough tournaments around.

I never said he was a journeyman, but he certainly knew a Wimbledon title would be oversized for his stature.Good guy, nevertheless.I enjoyed his run at Wimbledon, but he was very lucky didn´t play a big player there till Mc Enroe.

I meant Journeyman as a term of honour. I associate it with keeping at your craft and doing the hard yards day in, day out, even if you aren't the star.

I've posted with Chris before elsewhere, he's a straight shooter if there ever was one.
He says it like it is and he's dead on here.

If you have references then show them.

Geez man Bobby is so damn right
Besides the toughest colection of top players, from mid 70 till mid 80 it was tennis media and public explosion around the whole planet
Never companies invested as much as in the era known as Golden
Challengers and satelites developed and exploded geometrically then and exos around world took place almost week in, week off
Tennis has never had so much attention, popularity and corporate marketing and money
Heard of pro agencies ran by Don Dell, Mark Mc Cormac and others?
Well, they were created at that time to provide management services and financial consultancy to the top players
That alone summarizes the greatness this sport achieved in 70's and 80's

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Whenever I walk in a London street, I am always so careful where I put my feet

I remember feeling cheated out of another potential classic final by Wimbledon organisers.. Connors had just beaten Mac in straight sets at Queens. then they made the bizarre decision of putting the defending champion on court 2 for his encounter with Kevin Curran who had a purple patch match.. and was back to normal when he played Lewis on the semis..1983 had all the makings of another classic final between Connors and Mac but a bizarre decision and Curran playing out of his skin led to a lacklustre final instead..

Up until 1990 or so, the rule was ALL top players had to play on the outer courts at least once. Center and Court1 were the show courts. Court 2 was considered a show court as was Court 14 in later years before the big changes, but they qualified as outer courts. I liked the rule and wish it still applied.

I would say that Connors should've been put out there before the QF, especially with a big server like Curren looming. I remember Martina not being put out there until the QF in 1982 and 1988. But one of the big controversies was when Chris Evert was put out there twice in 1987 nearly losing to Fairbank and then again in the QF vs. Kohde.